“I felt the ground start to collapse, and it happened so fast that I couldn’t do anything,” Mihal said. “I reached for the ground as I was going down, and it gave way, too. It seemed like I was falling for a long time. The real scary part was I didn’t know when I would hit bottom and what I would land on.”

Members of his foursome called the clubhouse requesting a ladder, some rope and an ambulance. The grounds crew rushed a 12-foot ladder to the scene, but since Mihal was 18 feet below, a member of his foursome volunteered to head down into the sinkhole to tie a rope around his injured comrade.

Mihal ended up with a dislocated shoulder and a story for the ages.

“As we’ve had a couple of days to put everything in perspective, the whole ordeal still seems so unreal,” Mark’s wife, Lori, wrote. “It reminds me of the movie Space Jam when Michael Jordan was playing golf and disappeared into the ground. We’re very fortunate that Mark wasn’t injured worse than he was — or even killed. It’s just another reminder to hold your loved ones close and thank God for all the blessings we’ve been given.”